Popular Hassocks dance school gets new home: Let’s Dance prepares to open Studio at No.6 in village centre

Let’s Dance – Hassocks will be holding classes in ‘Studio at No.6’, Orion Parade, from April 17, with an open day planned for April 15 (10am-4pm).

The long-established school, which was opened by Irene ‘Robin’ Bates in 1987, has been teaching dance at Keymer Church Hall for 36 years.

Robin’s daughter, dance teacher Sally-Ann Hayes said this church venue ‘has been like a second home’, but she is thrilled the school now has its own place.

Sally-Ann, who is the director of ‘Studio at No.6’, said: “We have approximately 200 pupils, from ages three to ladies in their late 70s. Some of them started in 1987, which is nice because their grandchildren now dance with us.”

“It's a real community hub and there’s a lot of love,” she said, adding that the school has raised around £85,000 for charity through its performances.

Sally-Ann said the new studio will be hired out to other local groups as well, and said interest has spread quickly by word-of-mouth alone. Groups have now confirmed yoga classes, Pilates, gymnastics, one-to-one ballet tuition and LAMDA acting classes.

She said that renovation has only just begun and the school’s friends and dancers have helped her family strip the place.

She explained that the 10m by 5m studio space will be decorated in green, black and white with black dance flooring – “the best you can get” – for tap dancing, ballet other styles. “I’m just really keen for it to be a clean, functional, comfortable, slightly homey space with all the touches I would look for as a teacher,” she said.

The space will also have a teacher’s nook for paperwork, as well as a changing room, toilet and kitchen. People who have seen it have remarked that the space is ‘quite the Tardis’, and its location is convenient for parents who want to park and shop. The school is also right next to Dancewear On The Move as well, which is run by one of their dancers Angela.

Sally-Ann said: “Being central Hassocks and already established in the village we certainly weren't going to go anywhere other the Hassocks.”

Visit www.facebook.com/letsdancehassocks.